I love love love the barn swallows everywhere. Every day at dusk there’s a funnel of them swooping and spinning over the house pond. Yeah, they’re being useful, eating mosquitos, but also they’re just so damned gorgeous.

Being barn swallows, most of them had the good sense to build their mud-daubed nests in or on the barn, but one pair set up shop on the walkway between the house and garage. Any time either door opens, they freak out. But they keep coming back, and their brood seems to be thriving, just about ready to get kicked out of the nest…